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As Tournament Organizers, we are ultimately responsible for the way our events are run. This covers all aspects of the tournament, from something as simple as how many points each player is allowed to use when creating their armies, to what restrictions will be enforced such as disallowing multiples of the same formation or limiting Lords of War.

Some Tournament formats such as the ITC produce their own FAQ’s and impose their own limits on abilities and limits for their events.

Astronomi-con while generally very open to using existing units and rules sometimes has to put a few of its own ‘fixes’ in place to address rules oddities, or potentially abusive combinations.

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As part of the changes brought by the new edition of the game, we have seen fit to revise the tournament format as follows:

Scenarios will once again feature a Primary and Secondary Objective format. With a Win-Draw-Loss component based on the Primary Objective, awarding 9-5-1 Victory Points respectively. Secondary Objectives will be unique for each scenario and award up to 6 VP for each scenario. So, players can score between 1-15 Battle Points for each scenario they play.

We have updated the way Warlord Traits are handled, lifting previously banned Warlord Traits.

Warlord Traits that provide a Victory Points bonus will be allowed, and any Victory Points gained by these Warlord Traits will be combined with other Secondary Objectives. In these situations players can only ever score up to the scenario’s maximum allowance for Secondary Objectives.

Other special rules that generate or deny Victory Points for a player’s army will be handled on a case by case basis and will be covered in the FAQ section of the website.

As Imperial Guard players transition to the new Astra Militarum codex, while much may seem the same, many things have changed. I’ll be posting a series of articles about some of the units which have seen changes and hopefully provide some insights, tactics, and general information about how the unit has evolved.

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The recent release of Codex: Space Marines has brought with it a number of changes.

Perhaps one of the most unexpected and potentially confusing is the change that has been made to the Servo Arm used by Techmarines and servitors.

In brief – these are now effectively melee weapons with the following characteristics:S x2 AP 1 Specialist Weapon, Unwieldy.

First, let’s take a look at what these rules specifically state.

Specialist Weapons

+++Excerpt from the 40k Rulebook

A model fighting with this weapon does not receive +1 Attack for fighting with
two weapons unless both weapons have the Specialist Weapon rule.

+++End Excerpt

Unwieldy Weapons

+++Excerpt from the 40k Rulebook

A model attacking with this weapon does so at Initiative step 1,
unless it is a Monstrous Creature or a Walker.

+++End Excerpt

NOTE: With this change, having two servo arms on the servo harness will give the model an additional attack for being equipped with a pair of specialist weapons.

As the Servo Arm is a Specialist Weapon, the Techmarine would only get their base number of attacks and would not count as double- armed without a second Specialist Weapon. This would make upgrading with a power axe viable, as they would count as being double-armed if they exchanged their bolter.

Some interesting rules that can be found in the FAQs about models armed with Unwieldy weapons…

+++Excerpt from Rulebook FAQ v1.5 – September 2013

Q: Does a model with an Unwieldy weapon Pile In at its
normal Initiative step and then fight at Initiative step 1?
(p22/23)A: No – it Piles In and fights at Initiative step 1.

+++End Excerpt

The FAQ states that a model with an Unwieldy weapon piles in and fights at Initiative 1. This means that a Techmarine will always fight at initiative 1 as they have an unwieldy weapon, regardless of what weapons are actually being used. Interestingly, this extends to other models with unwieldy weapons such as power fists and power axes when that model is looking to use krak grenades or melta bombs.

I have been unable to find any rules which would contradict this FAQ answer directly, so until such a clarification is presented, it would seem this is the way it is to be played.

NOTE: The following FAQ question is no longer applicable as a servo-harness is equipped with two Servo Arms, which now are unwieldy weapons. It looks like GW missed this one… Expect that this question is removed from the next FAQ release.

+++Excerpt from Rulebook FAQ v1.5 – September 2013
Q: Do you get to Pile In twice in Fight sub-phase if you fight at
two different Initiatives (i.e. a Techmarine with servo-harness)?
(p22/23)A: No. You Pile In once, at your highest Initiative step.